mountain
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: It was easy for Kumiko to forget that Reina was really just another student like her and not some mystical snow spirit sent from a greater place. NeonClan challenge.


"Hey, Reina," Kumiko panted, shoes pattering against the gravelly path up the now-familiar mountain. "Is there any reason for us to be doing this again?" Reina's dress swished as she turned around to answer.

"You said that you wanted to hang out," she responded, still walking.

"Yeah, but I kind of assumed that meant going to a movie or getting coffee or something," Kumiko admitted.

"Where's the fun in that?" Reina said, running ahead. It was easy for Kumiko to forget that Reina was really just another student like her and not some mystical snow spirit sent from a greater place. She didn't dare think of Reina as more than she was, though. There was danger in that - Kumiko thought back to that older student she had looked up to in middle school with a pang. Besides, she didn't need some fantastical daydream when Reina was right there and very, very real.

It was almost infuriating, how unbelievably close she had become with Reina. Kumiko was admittedly somewhat scared of her own feelings - there was a good chance that Reina didn't return them, and Kumiko didn't know what she would do with herself if Reina ended up hating her for those weird, terrifying, beautiful feelings that were always there regardless of what Kumiko did to try to push them down.

"Kumiko?" Reina's voice snapped Kumiko out of her thoughts as she noticed that the other girl was standing several feet ahead of her, waiting for her to catch up. Kumiko ran to reach Reina's position on the mountain, but soon felt her foot catching on a stray rock as she began to fall. Kumiko braced for impact, but the ground never came. The girl looked up to see Reina's concerned face and her arm holding onto Kumiko's. Kumiko stood up, flustered, as she dusted herself off. Her arm felt warm and tingly - the same feeling that Kumiko had experienced on that first night on this mountain. "T-thanks," Kumiko mumbled. "W-we should keep going." Reina nodded in agreement.

The two girls walked in silence, Kumiko occasionally glancing at Reina's determined form steadily making her way up the path. A familiar tree caught Kumiko's eye as she remembered what Reina had said all those months ago.

" _It's a confession of love_."

The tree didn't have anything to do with that conversation, but Kumiko remembered it clearly regardless. She supposed that memories were like that - if they were important enough, every tiny detail would be vivid enough to be exactly recalled, even if they weren't the focus of the memory. Kumiko wondered if Reina had really meant it. _Kumiko_ had meant it, on that day of the audition. Love was confusing. Kumiko shook her head and continued walking, leaving the tree behind.

Reina squinted at the path ahead.

"I think we're almost there," she commented. Kumiko looked up and, sure enough, the lights of the city faintly twinkled at the summit. Reina ran to the end of the path and placed a hand on the railing, gingerly running her fingers along the smooth metal. Kumiko joined her and looked around. Everything was familiar and strangely comforting - the bushes and pathways dyed a dark blue by the moonlight. Nothing could hurt here. It was the place where Kumiko had started to realize her feelings. It was, quite ironically, the place where she had found love.

"Was there any kind of meaning behind the song you chose for us to play here?" Kumiko blurted out without thinking, wishing that she could have swallowed the words as soon as they escaped from her mouth. Reina looked up and Kumiko could have sworn that she saw the other girl's small hand tightening around the railing.

"It was a good song," she replied simply. "I enjoyed playing it, and it seemed appropriate enough for the situation."

"A-appropriate for the situation?" Kumiko wheezed, feeling as if the breath had been knocked out of her body. Her heart thumped like the concert band's percussion and her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

"Yes."

"W-why?" Kumiko weakly mumbled, grasping onto the cold railing to calm her trembling hands. Reina shrugged, her hand quietly sliding to rest next to Kumiko's.

"The title makes it obvious, doesn't it?" Kumiko fumbled for something to say in response, pretending not to notice Reina's hand nearly touching hers.

"So, uh, does that mean that you, y'know, are, uh. . . I mean, it's okay, I am too, but do you, err, want to, uh. . ." Kumiko trailed off.

"Hmm?"

". . . Kiss?"

". . ."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I guess I just sorta assumed things and I'm sure that you were talking about something else and I don't even know why I said that but I just-" Kumiko was cut off by Reina's lips briefly pressed against her own. It couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but Kumiko would have gladly lived in that moment forever.

"Have I ever told you that you're a terrible person?" Reina laughed. Kumiko stared, starry-eyed, at the other girl as her hand curled around Kumiko's. The railing and the gravel and the city disappeared as Kumiko felt the rest of the mountain slipping away, leaving nothing but the two girls suspended in this moment that could last a lifetime.


End file.
